John Field
Early Romantic · 1782–1837
John Field, born in Dublin in 1782 into a family of musicians, was apprenticed as a boy to Muzio Clementi in London, the composer and piano manufacturer. Part of his job was demonstrating pianos to customers in Clementi's showroom, which made him a formidable player young. A sales trip with Clementi took him to St. Petersburg, and he simply stayed, spending most of his adult life in Russia as a fashionable performer and teacher.
His quiet claim on history is the nocturne: the dreamy, songlike piano piece with a floating melody over gently rolling accompaniment. Field invented the form and the name, and Chopin, who admired him, took it up and made it famous. Field's own health and finances declined with years of hard living, and he died in Moscow in 1837.
Start with a set of the nocturnes to hear the original article. Then try the Piano Concerto no. 2 in A flat major.
50 works in the catalog, across 3 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- Divertissment no. 1 in E major, for 2 violins, viola, bass, and piano, H.13
- Divertissment no. 2 in A major, for piano quintet, H.14
- Piano Quintet in A flat major, H.34
Keyboard
- Andante inédit in E flat major, H.64
- Nocturne no. 6, H.40, "Cradle Song"
- Nocturne no. 13, H.59, "Dernière pensée"
- Air du bon Roi Henri IV varié in A minor, H.20
- Air russe varié in A minor, for piano 4-hands, H.10
- Chanson russe variée in D minor, H.41
- Fantaisie sur l'Andante de Martini, H.15
- Fantasie sur un air russe in A minor, deest 4B
- Largo
- Marche triomphale in E flat major, H.16
- Nocturne no. 1, H.24
- Nocturne no. 2, H.25
- Nocturne no. 3, H.26
- Nocturne no. 4, H.36
- Nocturne no. 5, H.37
- Nocturne no. 7, H.45
- Nocturne no. 8 in E minor, H.46
- Nocturne no. 9, H.55
- Nocturne no. 10, H.63
- Nocturne no. 11, H.56
- Nocturne no. 12, H.58
- Nocturne no. 14, H.60
- Nocturne no. 15, H.61
- Nocturne no. 16, H.62
- Nocturne no. 17, H.65
- Nocturne no. 18 in E major, H.13, "Midi"
- Nouvelle fantaisie on a motif La calife de Bagdad in G major, H.35
- Pastoral, H.14
- Piano Sonata no. 1 in E flat major, op. 1, no. 1, H.8/1
- Piano Sonata no. 2 in A major, op. 1, no. 2, H.8/2
- Piano Sonata no. 3 in C minor, op. 1, no. 3, H.8/3
- Piano Sonata no. 4 in B major, H.17
- Polonaise en rondeau in E flat major, H.29
- Preludio
- Romance, H.30
- Rondeau écossais in B major, H.23
- Rondo in A flat major, H.18
- Rondo on 'Go To the Devil' in C major, H.3
- Variations on 'Kamarinskaya' in B flat major, H.22
- Waltz in C major, H.51
Orchestral
- Piano Concerto no. 2 in A flat major, H.31
- Piano Concerto no. 1 in E flat major, H.27
- Piano Concerto no. 3 in E flat major, H.32
- Piano Concerto no. 4 in E flat major, H.28
- Piano Concerto no. 5 in C major, H.39
- Piano Concerto no. 6 in C major, H.49
- Piano Concerto no. 7 in C minor, H.58
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